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STP Oil Treatment ... What Does it Do?

I was looking over several Lube Recipes on the net, and noticed that some of them call for STP Oil Treatment. Why? What does STP Oil Treatment add to the mix in the minute amount that it is added to the lube?

From my experience in using STP Oil Treatment and other oil additives on older small engines ... all it does is thicken the oil and add Zinc to the oil to thicken it up. I've also seen a lot of older small engines that have developed a Zinc film on the pan because of the overuse of oil treatment 'snake oils'.

So, can someone tell me what the logic is behind using the STP oil treatment in bullet lube?

For the most part STP adds the "EYE OF NEWT" factor. Alot of boolit guys are also car guys so availability likely plays the biggest role in their STP lubes. It does add some slickum and stickum but there are many things that do this better for our use. Some of those things are also automotive related ......hmmmmmmm

I can do 95% of my smokeless lubing with nothing more than a cheap tube of lithium grease and a chunk of beeswax. Toss in some soft microwax for cold weather use and getting rid of cold bore flyers and I am set.

Lube ain't gotta be difficult and is in fact better when kept simple. The witchcraft aspect of lubemaking is very appealing and it makes our special "super secret squirrel" brew seem more than it is. That is just part of the fun, but is very easy to let that feeling override common sense and brain function. I have been to the "WITCHCRAFT SCHOOL OF LUBE" myself and paid about $600 for the t-shirt to prove it.

You two do know that what you're discussing is considered HERESY, in some circles.

Mark

It wasn't all that long ago that I would have been stand up fighting mad to read exactly what I wrote in the post above yours. Whats really funny is that some of my first successes were almost exactly where I ended up being happy several years later. I was holding true to my 2nd signature line I spose. I even had a buddy with access to a gasmassspectrometer and other fancy CSI toys involved at one point.

Richochet once commented "It's all very scientific," as he was describing grabbing whatever was at hand to mix up some lube -- red wax from some cheese, a toilet seal, etc. That impressed me. Then you also have to consider the pioneers and mountain men who got by with beeswax and deer tallow for all those years.

Mark

Any way you sell it,
No matter how you spell it,
When you start to smell it,BO Stinks!

If you want to add some Snake Oil to just about any lube for the "feel good" factor, add a small amount of Bullplate sprue lube, it does what people think STP does, only a whole lot better. That's my belief and no facts will change that! Bullplate is an exremely high-pressure, high-temperature, high-film strength lube that does have merits in boolit lube (because it ought to, it has to, right?).

Gear

You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something. --Stephen Adams

To universalize one's experience and state it as the norm is always thin ice on which to stand.--CharGar

Being able to separate the wheat from the chaff has always been a valuable skill in all of life's activities. --Bwana

Every lawbreaker we allow into our nation, or tolerate in our citizen population leads to the further escalation of law breaking of all kinds and acceptance of evil.
Since almost all aspects of our cultural existence are LIBERAL in most states, this means that the nation is on a trajectory to dissolution by the burden of toleration and acceptance of LAWBREAKING as a norm, a trajectory back to the dark ages of history.

Lube ain't gotta be difficult and is in fact better when kept simple. The witchcraft aspect of lubemaking is very appealing and it makes our special "super secret squirrel" brew seem more than it is. That is just part of the fun, but is very easy to let that feeling override common sense and brain function.

I think without fail, every new caster who gets comfortable casting and blending alloys and who then moves on to creating their own lube concoctions falls into the mindset of:

The more ingredients in my lube, the better and more effective it will be.

Generally, that just isn't the case.

My first few excursions into lube-making looked like an eighth-grade Mr. Science meets Harriet the Homemaker in the kitchen and throws everything slippery into the boiling pot.

For me, lube is a tool and I have basically three lubes I use for three different applications. Truth be told, I could live with any ONE of those three, but I enjoy making the lubes and I enjoy tinkering and experimenting with loads and powder and various configurations. Push come to shove, I can live with any one of my lube recipes.

Funny thing is, the three I use today are basic and simple with generally three ingredients or less--and they do superb for me.

Even funnier is that if I didn't enjoy tinkering and making a mess in my workshop, I'd simply buy White Label Lubes all day long and never even think twice about it. A LOT of members here do exactly that.

I'm getting ready to whip up a batch of new lube and I haven't even tried the last three mixes I have stored in the basement. It's all in the fun of the mixing, and the more ingredients the better. Here's my next formula:

How many rounds do you think you're set up to lube with all the stuff in that photo??

I won't live long enough to answer that question....I would guess ALOT. And that photo is outdated. The pile is a bit larger now actually.

Some of it has been "fixed" and HOMOgenized and passed on to some of the members here. Some of the HOMOgenized lube remains here and the black colored (purple actually) stuff on the right was put to work in another shooters cave. I will never use all that I have, just the way it is. That is why I use it for trading stock from time to time.

If you want slipery- why not use a banana peel.
It's used in just about all cartoon lubes!

Seriously though, I got a recipe from someone on here over a year ago that has STP in the ingredients, and I wondered the same thing. Why STP? It really works great at high velocities- up to full load 30-06, so far.

And another question- every time anyone reheats to melt any of the "Love Potion #9" mixes do the ingredients deteriorate or "boil off" some? I would think something would change, especially if the contain "space age" ingredients like STP.

Don't boil off anything. I use a electric burner with a temp controler 1-8 so i don't exceed the melting temp of beeswax as to ruin any lube.
But, back to you comment - YES it will change the lube if you go too high on melt temps.
I like the lubes i can make blindfolded and are real easy, or i buy from the lube experts here. Some of the fellows do it for a living, ya think they now what they are doin, yes sir they do. Then i can spend more time doing what i know best.

Yep, I should have stated that I do not "boil" my lube. It just gets hot enough to liquify. But still, some ingredients have to evaporate eventually. You can smell the fumes- so therefore something is disapating.

I have an old Subeam electric egg cooker that is automatically controlled. It kicks off before anything gets too hot- works GREAT for remelting lubes.